Thbead-sprraibtg- machine



,w. B. CONYNGHAM. THREAD SPINNING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 2?, I920.

Pa tented 001;. 25, 1921, I

ATTORNEY,

PATENT oFFIcE.

WILLIAM B. CONYNGI-IAIE, 0F 'WILKESBABRE, PENNSYLVANIA.

THREAD-SPINNING MACHINE.

Application filed October 2'7, 1920.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. CoNYNe- HAM, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Wilkes-Barre, in the county of Luzerne and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Thread- Spinning Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in thread spinning machines, and particularly to a shield adapted for cooperation with the main driving shaft to absolutely prevent the winding or accumulation of the thread about such shaft in the event of breakage during the spinning operation.

In spinning thread mechanism as generally constructed, the single threads drawn from a plurality of spools are carried around feed rollers and downwardly to the rotating bobbin, being twisted through the rotation of said bobbin into a single thread. The spinning machine is made up of a plurality of units as thus described and the feed rollers are driven from a single operating shaft which is continuously revolving. The feed rollers are mounted in a frame or basket which is capable of vertical movement under the influence of a spring, but normally held against such movement by a latch to insure a driving engagement between the gear operating the feed rollers and a gear on the operating shaft. The latch is controlled by a trip mechanism which in turn is governed by the tension of the individual threads passing from the spools, so that in the event of a release of such tension, as by the breaking of one of the threads, the basket carrying the feed rollers is automatically released and moves upwardly to disconnect its operating gear from the feed shaft gear, thus stopping that particular unit. However it frequently happens that the. end of a broken thread will be caught in the gear on the main shaft or on said feed shaft and drawn upon by the revolution of such shaft, and this will prevent the basket automatically rising, and the spinning operation of that unit will continue notwithstanding the broken thread and the fact that the thread on the bobbin is defective. As the operator depends upon the automatic mechanism to advise her of a broken. thread through the stopping of the particular unit, the condition just described, which frequently occurs would not result in Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

Serial No. 420,005.

a stopping of the unit, notwithstanding the defective operation, and hence the operator would not know ofthe condition until her attention was attracted by the winding of the broken thread end onto the feed shaft. This condition which is known as a single thread is responsible for the loss of an immense quantity of material, as the thread wound about the shaft has to be out there-' from, and the defective thread on the bobbin removed. Even if the automatic stop mechanism is permitted to go into operation, the end of the broken thread, if caught 011 the feed shaft or in the gear, will be wound thereabout and drawn from the spool until the thread is broken from the shaft and the accumulated portions about the shaft removed.

Furthermore, it frequently happens that the end of a broken thread beneath the operating shaft will be brought into contact with this shaft, as by suction or draft, in which event this thread will be wound about the shaft, drawing the completed thread from the bobbinuntil the condition is noticed and the shaft stopped. This condition technically known as a roller lap, is also a frequent occurrence, and results in the loss of a large quantity of material. This winding of the thread on the feed shaft from beneath may occur even with the particular unit or units, or even the full machine, eX- cept the feed shaft at rest, and hence there is absolutely nothing to advise the operator of the condition except an inspection.

The present invention aims to completely overcome the loss of material incident to a single end or roller lap by providing means which cooperate with the feed shaft adjacent the unit driving gear thereon, with said means adapted to cut the thread caught by the gear shaft before even a single turn of the thread is had about the shaft, and thus prevent any thread accumulation. In the concrete form, considered as a preferable embodiment of the structure of this invention, there is provided a shield adapted to be removably clamped on one of the tubular braces of the machine adjacent the feed shaft, and provided with a partly cylindrical plate to overlie and partly surround the feed shaft adjacent the unit guiding unit driving gear, so that immediately a thread is caught by the gear or shaft and made a partial rotation, such thread will come into contact with one or the other of the cutters which are of course fixed, and will be severed. i

The inventionis illustrated in the. accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is an elevation illustrating suflicient of a conventional type of thread spinning machine to show the application of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation illustrating the driving portion of a unit, and showing the application of the improved shield.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the shield.

For a better understanding of the present invention, the conventional form of unit of the thread spinning machine illustrated in the drawings may be briefly described as follows.

The single threads 1, of which there might be any appropriate number, are fed from spools 2 through a guide 3 and carried around feed rollers 4: supported in a frame 5, commonly called a basket, the threads being led from the feed rollers to the bobbin, as A, which is driven for twisting the thread, before it is wound on such'bobbin.

The basket 5 is slidably held upon an upright 6, and spring pressed in the upward direction by a spring 7 The usual control mechanism (not shown) holds the basket down in operative position against the tension of the spring until tripped by a change in tension of. one of the threads 1, as by 'the breaking of such thread. The basket when released moves upward separating the gear 8 for the feed rollers from the gear 9 fixed upon the continuously rotating feed shaft 10.

In the event of breakage of one of the threads 1, the loose end of such thread may and frequently is, drawn to the gear 9 or shaft 10 and winds about same through the rotation of such shaft. It may be that this winding is sufficient to hold the basket down notwithstanding its release by the automatic mechanism, and therefore the unit would continue in operation until the attention of the operator was attracted by the accumulatedwinding about the feed shaft. Even if the automatic mechanism went into operation, and was not noticed at once, the thread so caught on the feed shaft would be wound there'about to a considerable quan tity of finished silk thread accumulated on the shaft.

111g "main shaft creates a suction, or even "a slight draft may draw the end onto the shaft. This is a not infrequent condition, when it occurs the thread already wound on the bobbin will of course be drawn therefrom and wound about the feed shaft until the latter is stopped.

The present invention provides what may be termed a shield including a clamp 11 adapted to be secured about a tubular frame brace 12 which is ordinarily slightly below the feed shaft. The lips of this clamp embrace a plate member 13 which at the upper end is formed into partially cylindrical form, as at 14 to partly surround the feed shaft immediately adjacent the unit driving gear on this shaft. This partly cylindrical plate portion is spaced slightly from the shaft, and the edge next the gear is, in the form illustrated, turned outwardly and divided by a series of radial divisions to form what may be termed cutters 15. These cutters are positioned more or less closely adjacent the face of the gear, and are of course fixed against movement. There is a shield of this type arranged on each side of each unit driving gear, so that there is thereby provided cutting elements on each side of. the

gear and partially surrounding the feed shaft. 7 I

It is of course apparent that a thread caught by the gear or shaft and being wound thereon by the revolution of the shaft will, even before it has completed a full turn, come into contact with one or the other of the cutters and be severed.

The partly cylindrical portion 14 of .the shield will surround the feed shaft to a greater or less extent, and as the cutters are disposed closely adjacent the gear there is but a very limited space into which a thread may find its way, and this too acts as a safeguard against the possibility of the thread being wound about the shaft.

Of course it will be apparent that the cut ters, here shown aS integral with the shield, may be separately formed and secured to such shield, though this detail is not considered necessary to illustrate.

The shield as a whole is or may be constructed of sheet metal, can be readily removed or applied to the machine when desired, and more particularly is in the form illustrated, structurally designed for co-- operation with present types of thread spinning machines. The invention in this connection is particularly useful in silk thread spinning, as owing to the character of such threads they are much more liable to the entanglement with the shaft and gear described, and furthermore theloss resultant from the construction now in use is, with silk material, of considerable financial mo ment. Therefore the invention is particularly useful in sik thread spinning machines,

though its use is of course contemplated with any and all thread spinning machines.

If desired and as preferred, the improved shield may be utilized as a support for a guard for the adjacent gear. Such guard is conveniently shown in Fig. 3, and com prises an angle strip 16 removably secured to the cylindrical plate 14 of the frame, and a guard lip 17 integral with or secured to such strip and shaped to overlie the ex posed portion of the gear in close proximity thereto.

Claims 1. In a thread spinning machine, a loose end thread shield having a cutting means adapted to be engaged by a loose thread to sever said thread in a movement thereof tending to accumulate on the machine.

2. Means for preventing the winding of thread ends about the feed shaft of a thread spinning machine, consisting of a thread cutter positioned to be engaged by such thread end as it is drawn upon in the move ment of the shaft.

3. A loose end thread cutter arranged to cooperate with the feed shaft in a thread spinning machine, whereby to prevent the accumulation of thread on said shaft.

A loose end thread shield arranged to cooperate with the feed shaft of a thread spinning machine and thread cutting means carried thereby to be engaged by and sever said thread in an attempt to accumulate on said shaft.

5. A combination with the feed shaft of a thread spinning machine having a spinning unit drive gear thereon of a cutter arranged adjacent said gear to cut the thread in its attempt to wind about the shaft.

6. A combination with the feed shaft of a thread spinning machine having a spinning unit drive gear thereon of a fixed shield arranged adjacent the shaft and a thread cutter carried by said shield to cut the thread on its attempt to wind about the shaft.

7. A combination with the feed shaft of a thread spinning machine having a spinning unit drive gear thereon of a fixed shield arranged adjacent the shaft and a thread cutter carried by said shield, said cutter being arranged immediately adjacent the gear, and adapted to be engaged by a thread for the severing of the thread to prevent its acciunulation on a revolving portion of the structure.

8. A combination with the feed shaft of a thread spinning machine having a spinning unit drive gear thereon of a fixed shield ar ranged adjacent the shaft on each side of the gear, and a cutter carried by each shield, and adapted to be engaged by a thread for the severing of the thread to prevent its accumulation on a revolving portion of the structure.

9. A combination with the feed shaft of a thread spinning machine having a spinning unit drive gear thereon of a fixed shield arranged adjacent the shaft on each side of the gear, and a thread cutter carried by each shield, said cutters being arranged immediately adjacent the respective faces of the gear, and adapted to be'engaged by a thread for the severing of the thread to prevent its accumulation on a revolving portion of the structure.

10. A fixed thread cutter arranged adjacent the continuously operating drive gear of a thread spinning unit, and adapted to be engaged by a thread for the severing of the thread to prevent its accumulation on a re volvin portion of the structure.

11. i1 fixed thread cutter arranged adj acent the continuously operating drive gear of a thread spinning unit, said cutter comprising a plurality of cutting edges, and

adapted to be engaged by a thread for the severing of the thread to prevent its accumulation on a revolving portion of the structure.

12. A fixed thread cutter arranged adjacent the continuously operating drive gear of a thread feeding unit, said cutter comprisin a plurality of cutting edges, arranged in a plane concentric wlth the plane rotation of the gear.

13. In a thread spinning machine, a loose end thread shield having a cutting means to prevent thread accumulation about the feed shaft, and a guard carried by said shield.

1a. In a thread spinning machine, a loose end thread shield having a cutting means to prevent thread accumulation about the feed shaft, and a guard removably secured to said shield.

15. A combination with the feed shaft of a thread spinning machine having a spinning unit drive gear thereon of a fixed shield arranged adjacent the shaft and a thread cutter carried by said shield to prevent thread accumulation about the shaft, and a gear guard carried by said shield.

16. The combination with the feed shaft f a thread spinning machine, of means to sever a thread end in an attempt to Wind about said shaft.

17. The combination in a thread spinning machine including a feed shaft and a feeding unit, of means to sever threads directed from and tending to accumulate on the machine beyond the normal path of said threads beyond the unit.

18. A thread cutter for thread spinning machines including a member adapted to overlie an operating shaft of said machine, and thread cutting means on said member adapted to sever any threads tending to accumulate about said shaft.

19. A thread cutter of the type described, comprising a metallic member of partly cylindrical form having independent cut ting elements at one edge thereof.

20. A thread cutter of the type described,

comprising a metallic member of partly rounded shield portion, a cutterextending cylindrical form having independent cutting outwardly from and at one edge of the shield elements at one edge thereof, said elements portion, and means projecting beyond the 10 extending outwardly from the plane of the shield portion for supporting the cutter.

partly clyindrical portion of said member. In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

21. A thread cutter of the type described,

comprising a metallic member having a WILLIAM B. CONYNGHAM. 

